


Playing Defense

by RestedAbandon



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Football | Soccer, Light Angst, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:27:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21831412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RestedAbandon/pseuds/RestedAbandon
Summary: Jaime and Brienne are always on opposite sides of the field, until they're not.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 16
Kudos: 74
Collections: Oathkeepers Secret Santa 2019





	Playing Defense

**Author's Note:**

  * For [asea_aranion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asea_aranion/gifts).



> This is part of the Oathkeepers' Secret Santa gift exchange! Thank you to Sapphires_and_Gold for being a wonderful beta!

Brienne thought she heard him calling her from across the field but she wasn’t going to look. If she looked she knew he would be there making some obnoxious face and mouthing something utterly infuriating at her. She knew this because this is the way it had been every Sunday for the past six weeks. Thank goodness the season was almost over. Only two more weeks of this torture and she would be free. Brienne really liked bringing her nephew Pod to soccer games and she knew that for a six-year-old there was nothing cooler than having your once-college-pro-soccer-player aunt cheer you on but she just couldn’t stand running into Jaime Lannister at every game.

Jaime was there to cheer on _his_ nephew, Tommen, who was on the opposing team but he was also clearly there to antagonize her.

“Yo, Tarth! TARRRTHHH!” Yup, that was definitely him screaming at her from across the field.

Brienne finally turned to glare at him. She knew he wasn’t going to stop. He lived for this shit. He always had. Sure enough, he was there waving at her with that shit-eating grin of his. She raised her hands up in the air and mouthed “What?”

Jaime was holding up six fingers at her, as if she did not know the score. Yes, the Cubs had scored six goals and the Evenstars were trailing by four but did he have to rub it in like that? He was really pathetic sometimes. So petty. Brienne shrugged in an exaggerated fashion and pointed two fingers into her eyes and then back at the field where the kids were playing.

_Just focus on watching your nephew play and don’t worry so much about the score, you jackass!_

The Cubs scored another goal as Brienne glanced down at her watch. _Only ten more minutes left of this, poor Pod will be crushed._ The Evenstars had lost every game this season. Brienne could not wait until next year; at least the older kids got shuffled around and played against different teams. It was not fair that Pod’s team had to play Tommen’s every week when they clearly had way more resources at their disposal. It was always the same when kids from Lannisport played those from the more affluent Casterly Rock area. In truth, Brienne felt like this had been the story of most of her athletic career, especially the latter half. Except she had made herself train twice as hard and evened the score; she would never let Lannister have the advantage if she could help it. Being team captains of their respective soccer teams had spurred on a rivalry hitherto unequaled between the Casterly U and Lannisport U soccer teams.

The whistle blew and the kids met in the field to shake hands. Brienne could already see that Pod’s head was hanging low even as he tried to shake hands amicably with the other team members. He was nearly in tears when he approached Brienne on the sidelines.

“Hey, it’s ok. You tried your best and the score wasn’t so far off this time. I saw you were really working hard out there to help your team. You’re a great team player, Pod.” She ruffled his hair as they gathered up his water bottle and snack.

“Thanks aunt Bri. I don’t like losing all the time. We try so hard but they’re just way better than us.” Pod’s voice cracked.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok. Shhh. Sometimes things like that happen. All we can do is try our best, which you always do. Maybe, I can offer to be assistant coach next season. Would you like that?”

Pod looked up at her with tear-filled eyes and nodded. “Yeah” his little voice croaked.

“Hey, Tarth. Too bad about…” To his credit, he at least had the decency to let his voice trail off when he saw how stricken Pod looked. Jaime stood there holding Tommen’s hand. “Uh, good game Pod. You guys are really coming around.”

Tommen’s brows furrowed in confusion, “But you said that they su—.”

“—That they sometimes really surprise me with how hard they work.” Jaime had pulled Tommen to his side and pressed the boy’s face into the side of his muscular thigh all-the-while looking into Brienne’s eyes almost apologetically.

Brienne scowled at him. “Yes, they do work very hard but it would help if they had real coaches instead of volunteer parents and a college kid that comes about once a week to give them pointers. It’s ok though. They’re young. They have time to improve. With the proper dedication and effort any obstacles can be surmounted.”

Jaime scoffed, “Is that what you told yourself when my team wiped the field with yours?” That cocky grin was on his face again and Brienne’s hand itched to slap it off of him.

“We beat your team several times over the years, including at the Westerosi Championship game, remember?” She crossed her arms and raised her brow at him as if challenging him to disagree with her.

“Oh, I remember. I also remember walking into a bar full of dudes holding your legs up over a keg later that evening.” Something in Jaime’s eyes flashed and his grin turned darker, almost predatory.

“Those dudes, were my teammates and they managed to convince me that as team captain I had to celebrate properly with them, which apparently included being first at doing a fifteen second keg stand. That was ….a mistake.” Brienne looked down at the boys who were now happily kicking a soccer ball back and forth to one another, and lowered her voice. “But we shouldn’t be talking about this in front of the boys.”

Jaime leaned in and whispered in her ear, close enough that his lips grazed the shell of her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. “Yeah, I don’t think they should hear how I had to punch out some guy’s face when he tried taking advantage of you in your debauched state.”

Turning her face so that she was staring directly in his eyes she hissed heatedly, “Hyle was never a threat to me. I could have taken care of him myself.”

Jaime stepped in closer so his breath was hot on her cheek, “Is that why he had you backed up into a corner with his hands all over you while you were busy trying not to pass out? Brienne, I saw him. I saw that creep touching you and I could not stand to let him get away with it."

Brienne looked down. "My reaction time was slow but I was aware of what was happening. He was only grabbing my waist, albeit roughly. I was about to push him away when you stepped in. He was drunk too and just..."

A hint of sadness shown in his eyes for an instant. "You always did defend him. I tried to tell you he was not as nice as he appeared but you never listened to me."

"Why should I have? What reason did you give me to trust anything you said?" 

He kicked the grass hard with his foot. "Was there anything I could have done that would have inspired confidence?"

"Yeah, being less of an ass would have gone a long way." 

She was glaring at him again and Jaime's blood began to boil. "Admit it, you needed my help that night.”

“I already thanked you.” Her throat had gone dry. He was standing entirely too close and she couldn’t help but stare at his lips, his perfect nose, his sculpted jaw, and get lost in those emerald green eyes boring into hers.

“Not really. Not properly.” His tone was flat but his eyes danced in amusement, his moods so mercurial that she could never keep up with them.

_What the hell is this Lannister? He’s mocking me, again._

She stepped back. “I said thank you and I think that is more than enough.” She tried to make her voice cool and aloof but there was a tremor in it that she despised.

“Barely. And then you raced off into the bathroom to ….vomit, I can only guess. I waited for you, I waited to make sure you were alright but you must have gone out the back door.” He was crossing his arms in annoyance but that trace of sadness crossed his features once more.

“Lannister, that was a long time ago. You want me to thank you again? Fine. Thank you. What else do you want? You want my championship trophy as recompense?” She could feel herself getting heated. This was all a game to him, one he was frankly too old to be playing at.

“Dinner. I want you to have dinner with me.”

His amusement was palpable and he actually chuckled when she all but shouted, “What? Why would you want to have dinner with me?”

“I told you, you owe me a proper thank you.” He was positively glowing with mirth.

“You want me to buy you dinner for punching out a guy in a bar five years ago?” This could not be happening. Even Jaime Lannister was not this petty and narcissistic.

“No, I want to buy _you_ dinner and hope that your guilt for brushing me off all those times I tried to talk to you will culminate with the overwhelming embarrassment you feel for not thanking me properly, for all but ignoring the fact that I saved you from being manhandled while under the influence, merely five years ago.” The look on his face was smug but Brienne could not make sense of that, nor begin to make sense of any of the emotions coursing through her. What did he mean “brush him off when he tried to talk to her”? All he had ever done was mock and harass her while on the field, and off the field he had been sarcastic, conceited, and worked very hard to get under her skin, following her around just to irritate her with his constant chatter and teasing. How else was she supposed to have treated someone like that? Brush him off, indeed. They weren’t friends. She didn’t owe him anything. And yet, now he was airing grievances and demanding retribution.

She huffed, “Lannister…”

“Jaime, my name is Jaime, wench.”

“And my name is Brienne, Jaime.”

“I know your name. Come have dinner with me and I’ll call you anything you want.” This time there was an undeniably heated undertone to his words. Brienne felt a flush creep up her body and warm her cheeks and chest. That old familiar tingle in the pit of her belly, the one she always felt when she was around him, turned into a full-fledged swoop as she looked into his scorching green eyes. All amusement had gone from his countenance, replaced by an intensity she found very hard to resist.

_He means it. He’s not mocking me. He wants to have dinner with me. Let’s see what he’s about. Two can play at this game. I can be a formidable player when I want to be._

“Alright, sure.”

Jaime looked startled and she felt proud of herself for throwing him off, just as she had when she faked left at the championship game and took the soccer ball right from underneath him, scoring the winning goal. “Alright?”

“Alright.”

His lips quirked up at the corners, “You still like rabbit food?”

“If you are asking me if I still like eating healthy and taking care of my body, then yes, I do” she said with a fraction more irritation than she actually felt.

She watched him closely as he ran his hand through his golden mane of hair, making the curls spring back and then fall loosely around his ears and stubbled jaw. He was too handsome and this was a dangerous game to be playing but she couldn’t back down now.

“Excellent. There is a vegan place in Lannisport called The Friendly Lion. Wanna meet me there this Friday at seven?” He was looking at her mouth intently and she felt herself leaning towards him before she stopped herself.

“Sure. Sounds good” her voice was way more breathy than she intended it to be.

“Great!” he startled her with his bright smile and burst of enthusiasm. “Come on Tommen. See ya Friday, wench.”

_Did he just wink at me? He winked at me. Oh gods, this is a mistake. This is all going to end very poorly._

Brienne sighed and shook her head. She had never willingly backed down from a challenge in her life, and she certainly wouldn’t be doing that with Jaime golden-god Lannister, ever.

* * *

And so Jaime found himself sitting at a corner table that Friday evening, staring nervously at the entrance, schooling himself to be on his best behavior when she walked in through the door all six foot three inches of blonde, muscular, magnificence. He could not believe he had ever thought she was ugly. Perhaps her crooked broken nose, strong jaw, large lips, toothy smile, multitude of freckles, and athletic build would be classified by most as unattractive—he had thought her mannish once—but now all he could think about was wrestling her into a bed and making her flush crimson as she screamed his name. Jaime could not believe after all of these years he would meet her on a soccer field, of all places. He should have left her alone, it would have been the decent thing to do. She had always brushed him off before, and he was never good with words when it came to her. So he had thought that there was very little chance she would entertain his advances this time, especially when he could not help but mercilessly tease and irritate her, and he had nothing new to offer, but he just could not help himself. The wench stirred his blood. That flowy blue top that set off her magnificent eyes was already working its spell on him as she approached.

He stood up and put his hand on her shoulder, her eyes watching it come into contact with the fabric of her silky shirt. She looked back down his arm and into his eyes innocently, as if she had never been touched before, as if she never expected to be touched by anyone, and the connection was something foreign she was trying desperately to work out. Jaime smiled and leaned in, “Blue is a good color on you, my lady.” She smelled heavenly, like an orange grove in the midsummer sun. He leaned in further letting his lips come tantalizingly close to her ear. “Thank you for coming. I wasn’t sure you would.”

Brienne put her hand on his bicep, sending a wave of heat into his core. “Of course, I said I would. Although, I’m still not sure why I’m here.” Her voice was shaky. So, she was not as unaffected as he had once thought she had been. He had _not_ imagined that look on the field earlier this week. Gesturing toward the table he waited for her to sink into her side of the booth before he sat in his.

“You are here because I really wanted you to be here, with me. I asked you, and you said yes. Seems like a fairly simple concept. What’s there not to understand?” He glanced at his menu mentally chastising himself for heading down the old familiar road of defensiveness and teasing that managed to get him nowhere fast with her.

“I don’t understand why someone who always did nothing but mock and tease me, someone who loves to irritate me, someone who openly called me ugly and underestimated my abilities as a player and team captain just because I was a woman, would now want to spend time with me.” Yup, she was mad. He could see her just beginning to boil under the surface and while he wanted to wipe that look of hurt and uncertainty from her face, he also wanted to see how far he could push her until she blew up, and let him have it, until he had gotten so far under her skin that she completely lost control of herself.

“Just now? So, you think I followed you around after games because I _didn’t_ want to talk to you? You think someone who doesn’t want to spend time with you would bother?” Tapping his fingers absently on the table he willed himself to keep his tone cool, aloof.

“Is that your idea of making friends? Is that how you get people to want to talk to you? Because, let me tell you, I did not want to be your friend when you spoke to me like that.” Brienne’s blue eyes flashed dangerously.

“Good. I didn’t really want to be your friend either.” His voice was getting low and his tone rapacious.

“Well, what did you want? What _do_ you want?” Her fists were clenching and unclenching in irritation. 

He swallowed hard and willed himself to be brave, “I wanted to crush you on the field. I wanted to make you pay when you crushed me. I wanted to make you screaming mad. I wanted you to notice me and not be able to get me out of your head. I wanted you… I wanted you.”

Brienne’s face crumpled in on itself in confusion and frustration. “You wanted me?”

“No, I… want you… still.” The weight of his words hung in the air. His groin stirred as her blush creeped down her neck and into her freckled chest, sneaking into the exposed flesh where two buttons had been left open to reveal the barest swell, a hint, of breasts.

“Damn you. Damn you to the seven hells.” Her voice cracked and her eyes glassed over in unshed tears. She was standing and charging towards the door before he could process what was happening.

“Fuck.” Jaime stood quickly and practically broke into a run to catch her as she flung the door open.

Brienne was already half way down the block when he managed to grab her forearm. “Brienne, Brienne stop. Please. I… I am an idiot. I…”

She turned to him eyes full of hurt and tears pooling at the corners, one of which slipped down before she could hastily swipe it away. “Don’t you dare mock me. Stop mocking me. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I know I am easy prey. It’s just so tempting to inflate your ego by mocking and toying with the big, ugly, mannish woman who took your glory from you…” 

No, no this is not how this was supposed to go. “That’s not…. that’s not what this is…you don’t understand… Listen, I’m not good at this. I’ve never known how to talk to you. I know it’s hard to take me seriously when all I do is tease you but…” Jaime fumbled for the right words, heart beating wildly in his chest.

“You’re right. I don’t take you seriously. Men like you can’t be trusted.” She tried pulling her arm out of his grasp but he held on tightly.

“Men like me? There are no men like me. Only me. And there are no women like you. Only you. And this is me, telling you, that I fucking like you alright? I really really like you… I want… I want you. I just want…”

“You like me?” Her voice was small and uncertain but something about the look in her eyes made him believe she finally understood, finally saw, finally was allowing him to penetrate her seemingly impenetrable defenses.

“Yes. Very much.” He pulled her in closer and ran his hand up her arm to her shoulder, gripping it firmly, feeling the heat of her skin underneath the fabric there.

“Oh.” Her eyes were trained on his mouth as she licked her lips.

“Brienne…” his voice was husky and his hand trembled slightly as he reached up to cup her cheek.

When she leaned into his touch he tugged her face gently towards him and slanted his upwards to brush his lips against hers. Electricity shot through his flesh and molten heat churned in his belly as he pressed more firmly into them. Her lips were so soft and warm. He tugged on her bottom lip with his teeth. When she moaned, he deepened the kiss by sliding his tongue smoothly against hers. Then, he felt her respond by sinking her fingers into his hair and pulling him deeply into her mouth. A groan shuddered through his chest.

_Fuck._

He was achingly hard. Jaime distracted himself by running his hands up and down her back, working hard not to press himself into her hip. They were both panting hard when he pulled away for air, to cool the raging heat in his veins.

“Do you believe me now?”

She looked down shyly with a small smile on her face. “Yes.”

“Good.” He crooked his finger and pulled her chin up slightly so he could meet her eyes. “I like you so much. And I’m sorry it took me so long to say that. I was angry when I thought you were unaffected.”

“Oh, I was affected. I may have been confused, irritated, and angry mostly, but definitely not unaffected. I think, the gods only know how or why, but I think that I like you too?” She smiled at him brightly.

“Yeah. I don’t think you could deny that you like me. I mean, I could kind of tell… that you like me… if only a little bit.” He was finding it hard to tease her when she was looking at him with unmasked desire. 

“Don’t be so cocky. You really need to work on your offense, Lannister.” She placed a hand on his chest and pushed on it gently but firmly.

“Mmmmm, you know what they say, practice makes perfect.” He leaned in to kiss her again.

“I’m going to make you work hard for it.” Her eyes gleamed with yearning and amusement.

“Oh gods, I do hope so” his words melted into her mouth as she claimed them. Their tongues warred, hearts beating fast, hands trembling, adrenaline pumping, and for once, working towards a common goal.


End file.
